


Picking Up the Pieces

by CronbachAlpha



Category: Firefly
Genre: Angst, Child Abuse, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-25
Updated: 2013-03-25
Packaged: 2017-12-06 10:27:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/734628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CronbachAlpha/pseuds/CronbachAlpha
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mal promised himself he'd never let Jayne get hurt like that again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Picking Up the Pieces

**Author's Note:**

> This came to me while listening to Alison Crowe's cover of "Hallelujah". I quickly wrote it down, so it's not perfect.

When Mal rolled over and felt the empty space besides him, he knew what had happened. There was only thing in the ‘Verse that would make Jayne disentangle himself from Mal’s embrace and leave the comfort of their quarters.

Mal sat up and swung himself out of bed, pulling on a loose fitting shirt. He climbed out of the bunk and made his way down to the cargo bay where Jayne would perch on the uppermost level, hidden in the shadows with a bottle of whiskey.

The mercenary was sitting with his back against the wall, one leg bent, the other straight before him. Blue eyes glanced up at Mal, briefly, before going back to stare at the wall. Mal sighed and sat down next to Jayne, watching the man stare blankly ahead at the wall. Jayne didn’t say anything, only taking an occasional swig of whiskey from the bottle.

“…Ya wanna talk about it?” Mal asked.

Jayne shrugged.

“…Don’t see t’point,” Jayne said, his deep voice unusually soft.

“Ya might feel better,” Mal reasoned.

Jayne snorted, once, and took another swig out of the bottle. Mal just watched him. “Just think ya’d feel better gettin’ it off your chest.”

Jayne went quiet then, like he did every time this happened. Mal continued to stare at him before laying his head back against the wall. He continued watching his merc, listening to Jayne breathe and the sloshing of liquid in glass.

“Don’t wanna bother ya none,” Jayne shrugged.

“Think t’minute this happened,” Mal said, gesturing between the two of them, “we both agreed to share each other’s burden, Jayne.”

Jayne sighed. Mal hated seeing his merc so defeated.

“...You wanna talk ‘bout them then?” Mal asked, carefully. He didn’t want Jayne to put his walls up again. It had taken him years to get Jayne to lower them to him and he didn’t want all those years to go to waste.

Jayne shrugged; took another swig of whiskey.

“What kin I say? T’usual. Jist… ‘im beatin’ me after ‘e came home drunk off his ass, usually. T’night was ‘im beatin’ me ta near death with t’back of ‘is pistol.”

Jayne left it at that. It was clear the man didn’t want to go into any details, and Mal was okay with that. The merc’s free hand went up to his face and he gently traced the scar right under his eye.

“He gave ya that?” Mal asked. Jayne nodded.

“Yeah…from ‘is pistol…lucky he didn’t decide ta shoot me then, I guess.”

Mal closed his eyes to compose himself, already feeling his body shake. He heard Jayne take another swig.

“Don’t remember much after that…jist a lot of pain...think I blacked out befer it got worse,” Jayne murmured.

“You’re lucky,” Mal managed to say, struggling to keep his voice calm.

“S’what Ma says,” Jayne sighed. “Was lucky she came ‘ome ‘n found me there…got me to t’Doc’s…was t’last straw fer ‘er, ya know? Mean, she could take t’pain – she took it a lot so I wouldn’t ‘ave ta, but when he turned on me…”

Mal placed his hand on Jayne’s arm and Jayne’s hand wrapped around his wrist.

“…He went after ‘er when she told ‘im ta git out…she made sure she shot clean…”

Mal nodded. Silence filtered between them as Mal looked at Jayne, eyes gentle. The mercenary said nothing, but quietly leaned into Mal at the unspoken invitation, the captain’s arm wrapping around his shoulder, his head resting against Jayne’s own. His eyes closed, listening to Jayne breathing, needing to know he was alive.

“…If he was still alive, I’d kill him for what he did to you,” Mal murmured, trying to keep his voice from betraying his emotions.

“…Pretty sure ya’d make ‘im suffer first,” Jayne added. Mal snorted, pulling Jayne closer to him.

They both knew the answer to that.

He rubbed Jayne’s arm in lazy circles. He could feel the man relax under his touch, ever so slightly.

“…You know I won’t ever hurt you like that,” Mal murmured.

Jayne merely nodded.

“I know, Mal,”

"And you can talk to me,”

“I know, Mal…I know…”

Mal nodded, continuing to rub Jayne’s shoulders. 

“…Ya wanna stay here, or ya wanna go back to t’bunk?” Mal asked.

“…Might as well ‘ead back…” Jayne said, his voice still soft.

Mal nodded his head and stood up, pulling Jayne up by the hand. The mercenary looked at Mal, unsure what to say. Mal just gave Jayne a reassuring smile, taking the bottle from the mercenary’s hand, wrapping one arm around the man’s waist as he lead him back to the security of their shared bunk.

Mal didn’t say a word as he watched Jayne lay back down. His silence continued as he slipped against Jayne, holding the man to him in a protective embrace.

Mal couldn’t offer much, but he knew that this was enough.


End file.
